Likely House majority leader not a knee-jerk conservative
WASHINGTON — A Republican from a heavily Latino district in a deep blue state — 49-year-old Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, Calif. — is about to lead a party that is deeply Southern, heavily white and in thrall more than ever to its conservative tea party faction.
On Thursday, the former deli owner from California’s Central Valley who has said he would be open to immigration reform is expected to seize the post of majority leader, the second-highest in the House. The job was vacated last week by Rep. Eric Cantor, who lost his primary to a tea party insurgent.
Coin of Silicon Valley
With McCarthy’s elevation, California stands to hold two of the three highest positions in the House in both parties: San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi leads Democrats, and McCarthy will rank just behind Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and become his clearest heir-apparent.
McCarthy by all accounts has one trait what Cantor lacked: an eager affability and willingness to listen that has charmed even Democrats and propelled his rapid rise to the top of Washington’s power structure.
He will need those skills in spades as his national visibility rises exponentially, and he sets about uniting a party that has embarrassed its leadership on big legislation where he, as Republican whip, was in charge of counting votes.
“He would rather listen and learn before he leads,” said Carl Guardino, head of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a business policy organization. Guardino, who has known McCarthy since he was a freshman in the minority of the state Assembly not much more than adecade ago, said McCarthy “listens 100 percent of the time, and in the coin of Silicon Valley, that is incredibly important.”
In his four terms in the House, McCarthy has never even chaired a subcommittee. But he has cultivated a large and loyal following in Silicon Valley as well as the agricultural Central Valley, building a huge fundraising base and network of connections that ranges from lowly freshmen he has recruited to run to actor Kevin Spacey, who tailed McCarthy while researching his role in “House of Cards,” the dark television drama about the lust for power in Washington.
In Congress, McCarthy joined the self-styled “Young Guns,” aligning himself closely with GOP stars Cantor and Rep. Paul Ryan, the Budget Committee chairmanand2012 vice-presidential nominee. Soon put in charge of recruiting new members, he built a deep and loyal following in Republican ranks.
“He just makes you feel likey ou’ve known him your whole life,” said Tennessee Rep. Steven Fincher.
‘A hands-on guy’
A graduate of California State University Bakersfield, McCarthy is known as neither a policy heavyweight nor a rousing speaker.
But McCarthy knows how to charm, rotating photographs of fellow Republicans on his office walls so they see themselves on visits.
“That’s a nice touch,” said Larry Gerston, a political scientist at San Jose State University, showing that McCarthy is “a hands-on guy there to massage various egos and make sure people are comfortable.”